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# Test your API functionality

You can run Postman Collections to test and interact with your APIs. In Postman, a collection can be a group of saved [requests](/docs/getting-started/first-steps/sending-the-first-request/), a [workflow](/docs/tests-and-scripts/running-collections/building-workflows/), or a [test suite](/docs/tests-and-scripts/write-scripts/test-scripts/). When you run a collection, Postman sends the requests in the collection in the order you choose.

In Postman, you can run your collections in the following ways:

* **Manual collection runs** - You can [run collections manually](/docs/tests-and-scripts/running-collections/intro-to-collection-runs/) with the Collection Runner. This is useful when you don't need to run the collection on a regular schedule.

  You can also use the [Postman VS Code extension](/docs/reference/vs-code-extension/overview/) to manually run collections in the same application you use to develop your APIs.

* **Scheduled collection runs** - You can schedule collections to run automatically. [Scheduled collection runs](/docs/tests-and-scripts/running-collections/scheduling-collection-runs/) are useful for automating your API tests to run on a regular schedule, such as once a week or month.

* **The Postman CLI** - You can automate collection runs in your CI/CD pipeline with the [Postman CLI](/docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-overview/). You can run collections, monitors, and performance tests.

* **Monitors** - You can use [Postman Monitors](/docs/monitoring-your-api/intro-monitors) to run collections continuously, checking the health and performance of your APIs. You can choose to run monitors on a schedule or trigger them with the Postman CLI.

* **Performance testing** - You can run collections to simulate real-world traffic and [test the performance of your API](/docs/tests-and-scripts/performance-testing/testing-api-performance/) under load.

* **Webhooks** - You can use [webhooks](/docs/tests-and-scripts/running-collections/collection-webhooks/) to trigger collection runs at certain times or when a specific event happens in your application.